Whiteout
by Brightness Davar
Summary: Hans. Hans will save her. He has to... Set during the movie, when Anna freezes. One-shot


**Way back when I first started reading FF, I always wanted to read a story that depicted what Anna was experiencing during the time of her heart's slow freeze. I couldn't find a story like that...and you know that saying, 'write what you wanna read', yeh, so I wrote dis.**

 **I do not own Frozen.**

* * *

Anna had experienced being cold before.

Whenever the Winter announced Her arrival with a blizzard, a young Anna would be up at the crack of dawn to play in the fresh powered wonderland She had left behind. She had felt Winter's chill soaking through her mittens while she built a snowman, felt the biting cold of a snowflake and its rapid melt upon her warm tongue. She knew how a gust of glacial air could worm itself in between layers upon layers of woolen cloth and send a shiver down her spine. Blood rushed to cold cheeks and ears, tinting them pink and shading her lips blue. But she could never seem to care how cold she got.

And then there was the other side of cold.

The side where the seasons had nothing to do with its low temperature. She'd find herself smack in the middle of Summer and His blue skied wonder and still feel the cold in the form of a closed door. An unyielding piece of wood that separated her from the one who she loved more than life itself. She'd knock her rhythm, bringing Summer's glow with her only to leave with Winter's gloom slumping her shoulders at her sister's cold words.

"Go away, Anna."

"Just leave me alone."

Oh, she knew the cold. Intimately. Both times she had experienced the cold when she had been younger, happiness and immense sadness had been her companions. Her parents had tried their best to distract her, and when that failed, to comfort her in any way they could. Promising a better future where both sisters would be reunited once more. And so she held on to that future. Clung to it when their parents were lost at sea. And rejoiced when, for the first time in forever the day had dawned with opened gates.

But, Anna had never experienced _this_ type of cold before in her lifetime. Sure, the shot of ice in the form of magic straight into her heart had shocked her system. She had shivered at the sudden piercing cold and fallen to her knee. But she felt better almost instantly. Shocked, maybe a little angered at her sister's outburst, but unchanged as far as she knew.

The adrenaline form the gigantic snow golem chase and subsequent 200 foot fall off a cliff must've kept the ice in her heart from spreading. Or it kept her distracted enough not to notice its slow advance. It creeped, curled, and snared around her heart to trickle from her core into her extremities. Straight through the bizarre family introduction, and on while rocks turned to trolls and started singing. Her heart had warmed at the awkward exchange between man and troll family. The misunderstanding smoothed over by the disclosure that Kristoff was indeed a human being and not some smelly, crazed mountain man bent on isolation.

His manner, much like that of his troll family, excreted a hard exterior only to yield to vulnerablity beneath it. Something had changed as a troll sang in praise of love and the reality of human nature.

" _People make bad choices when their mad or scared or stressed._ "

Elsa suddenly made as much sense to her as if she had put on a pair of glasses. Suddenly she could see. Her sister came into sharp focus. Elsa had been scared, that much is true. And Anna had vowed, right then and there, to do anything in her power as Elsa's little sister to " _throw a little love_ her _way_."

Anna, having been so caught up in the chaos around her, was suddenly taken aback at by the realisation of what was happening. They, she and Kristoff, were in a hole, dressed in grass and capes of moss that were surprisingly comfortable. Wait, did that troll just say 'wedded'?!

"Wait what?!"

"You're getting married." The troll drawled monotonously.

At a complete loss as to how to react because, you know she had only _just_ met Kristoff. She stared at him, they wanted her to –?

A gasp wrenched itself from her lungs when a shard of ice shot from her heart. She felt faint. Usually strong and sure legs gave way beneath her. Sturdy arms embraced her with an alarmed call of her name.

"Grand Pabbie." Kristoff's sigh of relief, sent her own heart to hope on the wizened troll before her.

It kept the ice at bay for a while, though the weakness refused to leave. She felt stiff and sore in the joints that moved to clasp rock fingers. Vaguely, Anna's mind registered that she was able to feel the coarse texture the fingers squeezing her hand with difficulty. Muscles trembled in order to coax some of the heat bleeding from her body to stay, just a little longer.

The troll stated what she had already known: Elsa had blasted her with her magic. The consequences sent her reeling, though. "…If not removed, to solid ice will you freeze, forever."

"What…?" She must've heard him incorrectly. "No."

Numbness settled in the aftershock of this life ending revelation. There had to be _something_! Kristoff had been so sure. The ice continued on its course, turning her bloodcells into clumps in her veins. Having been momentarily halted by her hope, it now flowed like water freezing in a stream. Bit by gradual bit.

Kristoff spoke, his voice rumbling inside the chest she was cradled against.

"I cannot… If it was her head that would be easy..." The gravelly voice echoed familiarity in the recesses of her mind before he made the cure known.

"An act of true love?" She asked. Does she even know what love is? Didn't Elsa ask her if she knew? You know, before all this happened? Didn't Elsa allude to the fact that Anna didn't know...but, she did know, right?

The trolls showed excitement at the prospect of the antidote being a kiss. Anna would've smiled at their unbridled enthusiasm, if not for another shudder of cold racing from her heart. The ice creeped past her ears, shaking her head of hair of its fire. She was so cold and so weak.

"Anna…Hans." Her traitorous ears registered her name and that of the love of her life.

"…Hans." Freezing muscles substituted her smooth nod for a jerk of stiffness.

 _Hans could help_ , she thought, being hauled out of the wedding hole onto Sven's back. _Hans will help_.

* * *

Anna took inventory of her body. She couldn't feel the sting of a cold nose as wind whipped passed her face and ears. She did feel pins and needles trying to coax her blood to keep flowing through the slush it had turned into. Comfort was impossibility at the moment. Jolting towards Arendelle on a speeding reindeer, being cradled by someone she would like to call a friend: she let her mind to wander having nothing else better to do.

How did it all go so wrong?

Why hadn't she known of her sister's magic?

What is she going to do when Hans' kiss works?

"Hold on." Anna would've jolted at Kristoff's voice in such close proximity to her ear. She did jolt when she felt a sudden weightlessness followed by a crash of gravity. "Are you alright? We had to jump a log – _Olaf_!"

"I'm okay!" the snowman's voice was faint, and below her. Wait, how is he below her? Hadn't he been seated behind Kristoff?

"Why didn't you hold on tighter?!" the man all but growled at the sentient snow.

"Weee! This is so. Much. fun! Why didn't I slide on my belly from the beginning? Race ya! Wow, you're pretty fast Sven!"

The reindeer snorted, the puff of mist trailing over her face. She could feel her eyes becoming heavy. Subconsciously, she curled in towards the only heat her body desperately sought.

Kristoff held her closer at her movement. "You okay?"

"I'm f-fine." Her vocal cords where on fire. It was an ice fire, burning them solid in her throat that flooded her lungs with glacial cold each time she breathed. Couldn't she just stop breathing? Maybe the pain will go away. A faint sensation brought her out of her sullen thoughts. A weight settled on her head, silencing the whipping wind in her ears.

"Just hang in there." He urged almost desperately. "Come on buddy, faster!"

His cap. Lethargic teal eyes registered his blond hair bouncing with Sven's giant. He was cap-less. Where was his cap? Wait… had he put his cap on her head? To keep her warm. She managed a small smile. The motion alone was too much for the frozen state of her inner workings, it fell quickly.

Snowy thuds gave way for the clamour of cobblestone. Kristoff yelled something to who she guessed must've been Olaf. Sven slowed and stopped, heaving panting breaths from his extended run. He deserved a whole barn full of carrots for his trouble. She would make sure he would be rewarded.

After Hans saves her.

Kristoff stepped off his friend and bounced Anna into a more comfortable position. If her mind where able to function properly, she would've blushed at the way he was carrying her bridle style. But only one thing sat as heavily in her mind as the ice crusting her from the inside: what's going to happen to Kristoff now?

"Are you g-gonna be okay?" she forced the air to ask the question. It shuddered and faltered through her parted lips, she had trouble keeping her head from trembling when she looked up into his eyes. For the first time she could see that they were soft, like melted chocolate, and they were smiling at her.

"Don't worry about me."

Her name was called and her centre of gravity shifted, she has standing. But she couldn't straighten her legs and had trouble commanding them to walk forward. Hans was in there. He will help. Ushered by the people who had known her her whole life, they fussed over her. How cold she was. Where she had been all this time.

"Make sure she's safe!" She had enough time to move her head as slowly as an old door on its hinges. The last she saw of Kristoff was his wide eyes and outstretched arm. Outstretched towards her. She had to make it to Hans. She had to survive this awful experience to thank Kristoff properly.

"I n-need Hans." The command in her voice did little to convince the people around her to stop what they're doing and just listen. "Please, he can h-help."

* * *

The trip to wherever Hans was took forever and a day. She refused to be carried by Kai and Kai refused her to walk without support. Kai. He could just as well have been her father after that dreadful day. The day she had not only lost her parents, but the little she saw of her sister too. He had always there when Elsa wasn't. And Gerda. Anna turned her head ever so slightly, seeing worry wrinkle her brow. Gerda could've been her mother. She definitely regarded them as such; she should've shown them how much she appreciates them more. Why was she thinking like this? It's not like she's going to die. Hans will save her.

"…the library…Prince last." Her ears registered bits of Kai's sentence. It seemed snow had wormed itself into her ears. They burst through the door, entering a warm room where Hans stood among other dignitaries.

"He's in here." Kai said, "Prince Hans." Her salvation.

"Anna!" arms wrapped around her as she falls into his embrace, "You're so cold."

 _Am I?_ "Hans," she finds strength in his warmth, "You have to kiss me."

"What?"

"Now." She falters, looking at him with desperation and concern. She thought he'd be ecstatic at the idea of –

"We'll give you two some privacy." That was Gerda. People move past them. The door clicked closed before he looked down at her still clinging to his neck.

"What happened out there?" he asked with obvious worry. Her heart warmed the tiniest bit. Hope.

"Elsa struck me with her powers." She managed, not quite believing what had happened herself just yet.

"You said she'd never hurt you."

"I was wrong." The statement sends a bolt of ice through her. She crumbles in on herself, a noise of pain wrenching itself from her throat.

"Anna!"

She's lifted, weightless but for the ice solidifying her from the inside out. He places her on the couch before a fire she has trouble feeling.

 _He doesn't understand!_ He sits looking at her with troubled eyes. _He needs to kiss me!_

"S-she f-froze my heart," her lips struggled to from the words, "a-and only an act of t-true love can _save me_."

 _Please. Please, you need to save me._ She looks up at him, baring her soul, her vulnerable state. _Be the knight in shining armour that I_ know _you are_!

Understanding widens his confused eyes. "A true love's kiss."

He breathes the words, sucking the breath from her own lungs when he lifts her chin. His smile is so tender. Anna's heart rate spikes, pounding the crusted frost off of its walls. He leans in, slowly, gently. Anna closes her eyes, ready for her lifesaving kiss.

It doesn't come.

"Oh, Anna…" she opens her eyes. He looks at her as if she's a child that doesn't understand a simple fact of life. "If only there was someone out there who loved you."

"What?" she whispers, reeling back as reality is brought home when his warmth leaves her side. "Y-you said y-you did."

Her movements are robotic, half from her freezing state, half from disbelief as she turns to follow his progress towards the window. He begins to speak, but all she can hear is what he had implied moments before.

 _Nobody loves me?_ She must've misheard. She focusses in time to hear him say something.

"…marry into the throne somewhere –"

"What are you talking about?"

He continues over her, mentioning her sister being preferable. He snuffs the candle behind her with his bare finger in his return to her. The tiny flame of hope splutters inside her, refusing to be snuffed like the candle. This can't be happening.

"…nobody was getting anywhere with her. But you –

"Hans?" This can't be true. This cannot be true. Was this the person he had always been?

He moves towards the hearth. "You were so desperate for love," her heart aches at the truth he states; "you were willing to marry me _, just like that_." His voice sounds disbelieving with a hint of humour in its lilt.

All Anna can do was look at him; mouth slightly agape as he holds the jug of water in his bare hand.

"I figured, after we married," he looks at her then, pointedly "I'd have to stage a little _accident_ for Elsa."

He pours the water onto the fire. It sizzles, fighting to stay alive before it dies. It dies. Anna's eyes widen. He would've killed her sister. Her thoughts are sluggish, slow. She registers his words and the lack of the only real source of warmth that had died at his hands.

"Hans." She leans forward, hand outstretched towards him, falling to the floor. "No, stop."

Stop this madness. Stop the pain. Stop…just stop. He's going to kill Elsa. He's going to kill her too. Leave her without heat in this cold castle. Please, no. Stop.

"But then she doomed herself, and you were dumb enough to go after her."

" _Please_." She whispers her plea, staring at the floor in shock at how quickly things had spiralled out of control.

He chuckles. It's the kind of chuckle grown-ups gave children who were doing something stupid. The kind where they know more than the child does and uses their knowledge to mock them. An emotion rises inside of her.

"Al that's left now is to kill Elsa." His boots come into her view. The building emotion churns her stomach. Anger. "and bring back Summer."

"…Y-your n-no match for Elsa." She says with a spark of defiance.

Hans bends down, pulling her chin up to look at his deadpan expression, "No. _You're_ no match for Elsa." Anna manages to rent her head from his grasp, or did he drop it? "I, on the other hand, am the _hero_ who is going to save Arendelle from _destruction_."

Determined footfalls move away from her. She can't let him have the last word. She needs to believe Elsa will _win_.

"You _won't_ get away with this." she forces the declaration, willing it to become a reality, and turns to stare him down. He pauses by the door, looking back at her with a smirk of victory.

"Oh," that mocking tone again. "I already have."

The door closes with a click and a mechanical turn. Her anger at the injustice done brings her to her feet. In a crouch that staggers, she makes her way to the door. Her hand grabs onto the handle testing what she already knew to be true. It's locked.

"Please," she pleads hoarse and weakly tugging at the handle. "Somebody."

Another locked door. Is that all her life will ever be? Will no one open it?

"H-help." Will she freeze to death alone? A shudder runs through her, shaking her grip off the handle, she slides to the floor. Hair devoid of any and all colour except that of her sister's white snow.

" _Please_." Her whisper dies in the silence.

* * *

Anna shivers, pulling the cloak closer to her body. The door is locked. She's leaning against _another_ locked door. At least it's the library this time and not a hall. But she's still alone. Just like she has been for thirteen years.

Anna rests her head back against the door. Has it really been thirteen years? This is not at all how she pictured her sister's coronation would go. Oh, sure, she had met a beautiful stranger, had _the_ most magical night of her life, in more ways than one.

 _Elsa_. Anna closes her eyes, _Elsa has magic._

Things went downhill from then on out pretty quickly. She allowed herself to relive the last three days. Excitement at the opened gates. She couldn't stop smiling the entire day. Finally having a conversation with her sister after, how many years? That's right. Thirteen. Sure, they'd see each other every now and again. But the castle was big and Elsa was busy. She brought her thoughts back to what she thought had been the best day ever. Dancing with Hans. Falling for Hans.

"Ugh." She groaned softly. "How could I h-have been such an ob-blivious fool? So r-reckless that I c-couldn't see?" she opened her eyes, feeling numb. "Life's too s-short to be so d-desperate to be loved that I o-only ever t-thought of me.."

Anna shifted, "I wish I s-saw things clearly, but I g-guess I'm jus-st not the sort." A hollow emptiness settled right into her bones. "Now all I k-know is…life's…too. S-short."

She knew she should be crying or doing something else besides just sitting here, waiting to die. But she couldn't bring herself to move. Or feel the fabric she was clutching. She closed her eyes wandering back to when she wasn't locked inside the castle.

She had been free. For a brief moment, Time had allowed her to explore. Even if that meant scaling a mountain to find her sister. She had seen the most beautiful sights Winter could give. And even met trolls!

Kristoff.

He had saved her. He had kept her warm. She couldn't just sit here and wait for it all to end. She had to fight. She had to.

 _What would Kristoff do?_ She opened her eyes and scanned the darkened room she was locked in. Her gaze fell on the fireplace, still smoking.

 _Light a fire. Get warm. Stay alive._

Anna repeated the mantra in her mind. She pushed away from the door and her muscles protested immediately. She'd been sitting still for a handful of minutes and yet, it felt like she had been sitting for hours.

 _Move._

Anna grit her teeth against the pain of stiff joints and frozen muscles flaring to life.

 _Light a fire._

She set her eyes on the fireplace, imagining the warmth she would feel.

 _Get warm._

Tucking her knees underneath her, she placed her hands on the floor and pushed.

 _Stay alive._

Her arms were weak. Gone was the strength she had forged from years spent climbing every tree on the grounds. She even climbed the castle when she grew older and more confident in her balance. Now she felt like an eighty year old woman, barely strong enough to get to her feet.

Her arms quivered with exertion and fatigue. She wasn't even halfway up when she fell forward. Spent.

"I c-can't…" she whispered, bringing her legs close to keep some of her core heat from escaping. "S-so t-tired…"

Minutes pass where all Anna could hear was her ragged breathing echoing in the cold room around her. Something crackled above her. She lifted her head just enough to see frost creeping in the corner of the wooden ceiling. The door rattles behind her. Stops, then rattles again.

" _H_ - _help_." Air barely moves past her vocal cords to utter the plea.

It must've worked for the door opened, admitting someone she'd thought she'd never see again. Olaf. The snowman waddled over to her, panic in the one word he says: her name. Before she knows what's happening, he had started a fire and stood before the roaring flames.

"Olaf?" her mind registers what she's seeing. Danger. "O-olaf. G-get away f-from there."

Anna lowers her head as the snowman speaks, awed about heat she needed desperately. She's becoming weaker by the minute. Something long and thin wraps around her waist. She looks up straight into Olaf's white middle with a big black coal button. Glad for the help and support, they labour to reach the fire a few feet away from them.

They stop right before the dancing flames. Anna sits down heavily, shivering as the heat finally washes over her.

"Sooo," Olaf drawls, "where's Hans?" The girl closes her eyes, "What happened to your kiss?"

"I w-was w-wrong about him. It-it w-wasn't t-true love." The confession ghosts past her lips. Its weight lowering her shoulders.

"Huh? But we ran all the way here."

"Please, Olaf." Anna looks up at him then. He's too close to the fire. "You. Can't. stay – here. You'll _melt_."

"I am _not_ leaving here," he waddled to her side, away from the fire. Anna relaxed. " 'till we find some other act of true love to save you." He sat with a plop, leaning against her. "…Do you happen to have any ideas?"

The question, innocent as it was, startles her to reveal something she had fought against since the night Elsa asked her what she knew about true love.

"I don't even know what love is."

She was beginning to warm up from the fire, but she still felt numb. This was more of an emotional numbness than the absence of feeling something physically. Everything Anna had known has been called into question.

"That's okay!" Olaf stood up, a merry chime in his voice. "I do." he smoothed her cloak, thinking. "Love is…putting someone else's needs before yours, like" he scrunched his brow groping for an example, "you know, how Kristoff brought you back here to Hans and left you forever."

 _Kristoff?_ Anna frowns, can it be? "K-Kristoff _l-loves_ me?"

"Wow," he comes around to face her, "you really don't know anything about love," his face starts to melt, but he just pushes his nose back into position, "do you?"

"Olaf, you're melting." Anna's eyes widen, afraid for her little friend.

"Some people are worth melting for." He reassures her with a tender smile.

Anna smiles at the sentiment, small and unsure, but grateful anyway. Warmth starts to build inside of her. His face leans to the side, water already dripping from the heat. Quick as a flash, he pushes his face back in its proper position, albeit a bit squashed together.

"Just maybe not right this second."

A loud bang followed by an ice laced wind flooding the room elicits a cry form Olaf. The wind is so cold Anna chokes on it, and Olaf flits away towards the window.

"Don't worry, I've got it!" manages to scurry onto the bench to close the window, "We're gonna get through – oh, wait. Hang on. I'm getting something…"

Anna sits by the fire, mulling over what Olaf had just revealed. Could it really be? Could Kristoff –?

Olaf gasps excitedly. "It's Kristoff and Sven! They're coming back this way!"

The former redhead looks up, "They-they are?" He's come back for her?

"Wow, he's reeeeally moving fast…" Olaf speaks but all Anna can think of is Kristoff getting back to her. To save her. She tunes back in just as the snowman looks at her, "…Kristoff doesn't love you enough to leave you behind."

That may be…but he loves her enough to come back. Why he came back, she doesn't really care, but there is one thing she knows. Anna's eyes widen and that stubborn wisp of hope flares to life.

"H-help me up, Olaf." She struggles to push herself up, "Please."

"Nonononono." Chess pieces scatter as he somehow _rolls_ over the table onto the couch and stands before her, pushing her down. "You need to stay by the fire and keep warm."

"I _need_ to get to Kristoff."

"Why?" he asked, oblivious. Anna looks at him pointedly. "Oh, oh oh! I know _why_!"

Anna smiles at his hopeful hopping. Olaf had come to the same conclusion she had. But, to hear that Kristoff was her act of true love out loud…she felt determination settle in her bones. Standing shakily, Olaf cries out when the frost in the corner of the room grew rapidly. A stalactite or two shoot downwards, and she's pulled from the library after him.

In the castle hallway, Anna and Olaf struggle along. The cold inside her refused to give up its relentless pursuit, much like the icicles obscuring the hall behind them, chasing them. She stumbles and falls. But Olaf is at her side in an instant, helping her to her feet. They start to move again, but stop almost immediately.

"Uh, back this way." Olaf turns and stops short, hindered by the advancing ice before and behind, hemming them in.

"We're trapped!" he exclaims, holding his arms out protectively.

Anna's head flits around, frightened but searching. Her eyes land on the window. "Olaf! There!"

He follows her gaze and plops up onto the bench, ramming himself into the frosted window until it gives way. The panes slam into the castle with such force from the wind buffeting the castle, they break off and fall. Anna barely manages to get Olaf back inside before he, too, falls. He looks up at her and she knows they have no other option.

"Slide, Anna!" he yells over the wailing wind.

Eyes narrowed in fortitude, Anna does as told. She slides. If things had been different she might've enjoyed the sensation. A subconscious memory surfaces, tickle bumps… She reaches the end, righting her skirt as she stands up. Kristoff. He's out there somewhere. She vaguely registers Olaf urging her forward.

Anna had thought that the winds inside the courtyard were strong, but as soon as she stepped through the gates, they slammed into her. It seemed to scream in her ears, forcing its way up her sleeves, yanking at her white hair and cloak. Anna stumbled immediately, but Olaf was right behind her. Acting as an anchor, he pushed her forwards.

"W-where did you see him?!" she squints, searching through the snow wailing around her at the frozen town for her mountain man.

"The fjord!" Olaf's answer is almost blown away by a gust of wind and flakes.

Head low, bracing against the wind and slicing flurry, they step to the bridge boundaries. Anna looks out onto the frozen fjord. The icy wind batters against her, urging her to stay back on the bridge. But, Kristoff is out there somewhere. She looked down and saw a growing pile of snow had been blown against the bridge wall, much like it had been against the castle. Another slide later and Anna and Olaf are on the fjord.

"Kristoff!" she cries into the wind. He's here. She knows he is, and takes one step forward, leaning into the wind to make it easier to walk.

A heavy puff of wind sweeps past her, lifting Olaf off the ground to swirl with the wind's restless dance. " _Keep going!"_

" _Kristoff_!" Anna struggles onward.

All she can see is the blizzard raging before her. The snow shoots around her in intricate swirls that seemed erratic, agitated, and confused. They consume her vision. It's a complete whiteout. A ship suddenly appears within when the wind changes direction. It rattles and sways as if a large creature is pushing against it to topple it over. Anna soldiers on, calling her guide's name. Calling her friend's name. Calling her saviour. Just as Hans had been...

Pushing down her traitorous thoughts, she refuses to think that Kristoff would do what Hans did. He's come back for a reason. She just hopes that reason is her. With a loud groan the vessel Anna is walking past tips. She staggers in fright of the new threat, holding her hand up as if to ward it back. The winds shift again, pushing the ship back and away from her. Her relieved sigh rushes away with the turbulent air with a weak puff of air. She lowers her hand but pauses, something looks different.

Peering through the white around her, Anna sees her hands turn blue. The white frosted spider-webs across her palm shifts into blue the higher it travels up from her wrist. Her fingertips are already frozen solid, the same beautiful colour Elsa's Ice palace had been.

Her heart skips several slow beats.

"No…" she blinks lethargically, digesting the reminder of her short time.

Clutching both hands to her chest in a futile act to keep them from freezing, she shuffles forward. The wind is merciless. It blows and blusters from all four corners around her. Hammering her from one side to the next untill she can't take a single straight step anymore. She's completely blind, helpless, and weakening faster than she could breathe.

"K-Kristoff." She whispers the name, barely strong enough to get it passed her blue lips.

Half lidded eyes hide the life draining out of her, being replaced by soft swirls of frost that coat her neck and cheek. Her feet refuse to move. Her brain struggles to think. Her body can't feel anything besides the growing heaviness of freezing solid. The wind is agitated, rushing around her like a drunken man stumbling over his own feet. She closes her eyes, realising that her time has run out.

She's too late…

With an almost sorrowful cry, the wind breaks and snow gales pass her in a sudden rush. Anna becomes aware of the rapid shaking of her body first, then the eerie silence last. She opens her icy eyes, breath jagged as she trembles without any control over it. The snow hangs suspended in the air, twirling around its axis in slow, barely noticeable rotations.

All of that is lost to Anna, who spots a figure in the distance looking around with wild desperation. She recognises him immediately.

"Kristoff…"

The figure stops and she knows he's seen her. He starts running toward her and she musters enough energy to move towards him as well. She teeters with her trembling like her feet are constantly being caught in vines that want to trip her. Jerky step after jerky step, she moves forward. Towards him.

A metallic chime rings out.

Anna knows that sound, having heard it countless times when she had spied on the guards sparring with each other in the past. A sword has been drawn from its scabbard. Slowly, painfully, Anna turns her head to see the man who broke her heart and left her to die. His back is turned to her, his left hand holding the blade. And just before him, Anna sees _her_.

Elsa.

Her sister. She's on the ground. It looks like she had fallen down. And then it clicks. Hans is going to kill her. Right now. A soft grunt makes her turn her head toward a rapidly approaching Kristoff. She gives him a last longing look and turns away from him. Towards danger. Towards her sister. Every step is agony. The kind of pain you experience when needles lacerate your flesh. How she manages it, she doesn't know, but she's running now. Towards the man who betrayed her. Towards his sword being held above him menicingly. Towards her sister who, despite everything that's happened, she loves and cannot bare to see die.

The sword begins its decent. Time slows down to a crawl. Adrenaline shoots through her rapidly freezing veins.

" _NO_!" Anna screamed.

With a skid, she stops before Hans. Her body planted firmly between him and her sister. She makes it in time to stare the sword down as it falls towards her raised hand instead of her downed sister. The transformation is quick. The freezing, instantaneous. All movement vanishes with her last breath puffing past frozen lips. Everything is black and, surprisingly, cold.

But then...warmth.

Right above her heart. Anna latches onto the spreading feeling flowing from her core like hot chocolate down her throat. She wills it to move faster, until she's engulfed with heat, and feeling, and life.

The redhead breathes in and sags with a weight in her arms.

"Anna?"

Blinking, Anna looks down to sees her sister. Safe and unhurt. Elsa's watery red eyes betray her disbelief, and who could blame her? Then she's pulled into the tightest, warmest hug Anna's ever received. Elsa clutches her close with desperation, bringing her closer still, breathing heavily.

"Oh, Elsa."

With obvious reluctance, Elsa pulls away but doesn't step away. She looks confused, relieved, and happy all at once. Her emotions merge and mix, swirling inside the icy eyes boring into her soul

"…Y-you sacrificed yourself," she moves to take Anna's hands in her own, "for _me_?"

The youngest sister smiles, it's small, stilll weak from her thaw. "…I _love_ you."

The soft smile Elsa gives her makes her heart soar. Olaf gasps somewhere behind her, but Anna only has eyes for her sister.

"An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart."

Anna looks at him then, smiling in realisation. Yes, she loves her sister. If there had been any doubt, it had thawed along with the ice that had encased her.

"Love…will thaw…"

Anna looked up at her sister's pensive words; she wore a strange expression looking at Olaf like he had just revealed the secret to world peace. Or inner peace.

Elsa's eyes light up like the sky had woken up. "Love… Of course." She released her sister's hands and looked at Anna with such confidence; all Anna could do was say her name in question.

"Love!" the woman sweeps her arms downward, a giant snowflake shines beneath their feet.

Anna gasped as the ice began to thaw, breaking and cracking into tiny snowflakes that rise into the air. The ice beneath them gives way to brown wood from what had been a submerged ship. As Elsa raised her arms with the widest smile ever to grace her features since the isolation, all the snow that covered Arendelle follows her silent command. It rushes toward the giant snowflake forming in the air above them. The very same snowflake that had been beneath them, Anna realised with awe.

Elsa brings her arms together above her and dismisses all the snow and ice with a final wave, lowering them again.

Anna's gaze falls back towards her sister.

"I knew you could do it." She bragged honestly, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Oh, yes Anna knew her sister could do it. She always had. There might've been times where Anna would have had cause for concern. Like the time Elsa froze her heart in her Ice Palace, or sent that golem to throw them out of said Ice Palace. But all Anna had to do was 'throw a little love her way'. After all, Anna now knew that what had happened had happened because Elsa had been either scared, or stressed, or both. Quite possibly both. The loving smile Anna was given by her sister felt like a sunburst in her chest.

And she knew right then, without a shred of doubt, that her days of knowing the cold had come to an end.

* * *

 **Phew...(wipes at sweaty brow dramatically.) This was quite a challenge to write for me. Hope everything made sense. I kindof relied on the fact that people have watched the movie, so I didn't go in as much detail 'cause I thought that will be unnecessary. I also used lines from a deleted song while Anna was alone inside the library. 'Life's too short.' is such a cool song. Search for it on** **YouTube** **, Idina and Kristen actually recorded the scene that would've had the song in.**

 **Anyway, review if you've some pointers or if the need hits you :)**

 **'Till next time :)**


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